For the second night in a row, Cavs/Hawks played out with postseason-type intensity, ratcheted up a notch because it came 24 hours after their last physical down-to-the-wire contest, and with an extra spotlight due to it being LeBron‘s birthday … The Hawks led by as much as 17 in the third quarter, but midway through the fourth, Cleveland cut it to three on Anthony Parker‘s Wade-esque spinning no-look layup where the replay showed he tapped the ball in from waist-level rather than release an actual shot. “Wow, no foul!” cried Cavs announcer Austin Carr, forgetting that LeBron pretty much manhandled Josh Smith while going for the loose ball that set up AP’s shot. LeBron (48 pts, 15-23 FG, 14-16 FT, 10 rebs) would give the Cavs the lead on a layup with 4:30 remaining, and the teams traded buckets until the controversial sequence that Atlanta fans will someday talk about with the same bitterness with which they talk about the Braves/Marlins Livan Hernandez/Eric Gregg game in ’97 … Two minutes to go, ATL up one, Mo Williams misses a wild shot with 19 seconds left on the shot clock. Hawks ball, but nobody realizes that the shot clock never reset on the change of possession. So with the shot clock all of a sudden about to expire sooner than expected, Mike Bibby and Smith run a hurried pick-and-roll, resulting in a turnover. Anderson Varejao‘s putback on the other end gave Cleveland the lead, after which Mike Woodson called timeout and seemed like he might actually punch one of the refs in the face. (“You could fry an egg on Woodson’s forehead right now!” said the Cavs’ play-by-play guy.) But the refs weren’t going to take Cleveland’s points off the board and have a do-over, so the Hawks just had to eat it … LeBron then split a pair of free throws and goal-tended on a Joe Johnson (35 pts) layup, tying the game with 40 seconds left. Cavs ball, and the offense begins to disintegrate before Varejao winds up with the rock and has to throw up a three-pointer. It goes in — the first of Sideshow Bob’s career — and the Cavs lead with 17 seconds left. Bibby misses a three, and even as Jamario Moon was hitting the free throws to ice it, Woodson was still glaring at the scorer’s table … While D-Wade was oddly passive (by superstar standards) down the stretch of Heat/Hornets — he really didn’t seem to trust his jumper by that point — Chris Paul was a beast in crunch time. CP (18 pts, 9 asts, 4 stls) banked in a deep triple with the shot clock running out that could’ve been the dagger with five minutes left, but when Miami kept coming back, CP kept hitting shots or setting up David West (21 pts, 10 rebs) for buckets to keep the Hornets ahead until the end … On a key possession late, Wade (22 pts, 7-13 FG) gave it up to Udonis Haslem, who went up and got swatted by Emeka Okafor. On their way back the other way, D-West got a little too pumped and smacked Okafor on the back of the head hard enough that it would’ve knocked Drew Brees out … One time CP and Haslem went for a loose ball, and some incidental contact led to CP going airborne. Although it happened right in front of a ref, it wasn’t until after Paul hit the ground hard and rolled about five full rotations that they blew the whistle on Haslem. So if the landing hadn’t been that bad, would it have not been a foul? … Forget being able to outshoot the Suns minus Paul Pierce; the Celtics’ biggest problem was not being able to stop anybody minus Kevin Garnett. Right off the bat Amar’e was beasting inside, scoring 18 in the first quarter and finishing with 26 points. And for good measure, Channing Frye rained murder outside, dropping 26 points on six threes … Put it this way: If Eddie House is Boston’s leading scorer, they’re probably not getting out of there with a W. That’s three straight losses now for the Celts. Time to panic, or no problem seeing as they’ve had guys injured? … Other big stat lines from Wednesday: Brook Lopez posted 21 points, 14 boards and four blocks as the Nets beat the Knicks; Deron Williams put up 21 points and 12 dimes to beat the Wolves; Chris Bosh hung 33 and 13 boards on the Bobcats; (Hold up a sec: Does that say the Nets won a game? Believe it.) Rudy Gay scored 31 to lead Memphis past Indiana; Brandon Roy put up 25 points to lead the Blazers past the Clippers; Allen Iverson stamped 20 and three steals on the Kings; and Vince Carter scored 25 to get the Magic past Milwaukee … Flashback from Orlando: Fourth quarter, White Chocolate brought the ball up on Luke Ridnour, cross him left, went back right, then went back left again as Ridnour’s knees dislocated somewhere in the process and J-Will drained a three on him. Right before the turn of the decade, it was nice to re-live a memory from the beginning of the decade … We’re out like Varejao’s shooting stroke …

Join The Discussion

Happy New Year to all. May a million crabs infest the crotch of the individual that tries to screw up your day–and may his arms be too short to scratch.

12.31.09 at 7:35 am

mavs all the way

out like 2009 here in the Phillipines.

Have a safe new decade everyone.

Mabuhay!

12.31.09 at 7:36 am

M

Great smack. Cya guys next year!

12.31.09 at 7:40 am

gregory

Wade trusted his jumper too much at the end of the game, not too little. He took and missed two pull up jumpers from the right wing. It looked to me like he was trying to replay the spree of jumpers he nailed in the fourth against the Knicks to give them the victory. While that had been a staple of his in past seasons, he hadn’t done much of that prior to the Knicks game, finishing a game off by sticking jumper after jumper. His mid-range jumper has really been missing for most of the year and that has been the reason for his decline from last season, well that and his three point percentage dipping back under 30 percent again.

12.31.09 at 7:41 am

Cb

No mention of kloves 17-11-9-3 night?

12.31.09 at 8:03 am

Soopa

LeBron and the LeBrons are rolling!

But that Varejao 3 was stupid lol. First of his career and all… Crazy.

All good teams have luck on their side at times, but the Cavs are pushing it. Scores table messing up, Andy nailing clutch 3’s…

Godt NytÃ¥r (Happy New Year)

12.31.09 at 8:10 am

BC

Do the Knicks want John Wall to go with LeBron/Bosh? They must be after that #1 pick to lose to the Nets.

Danilo is the next Dirk… or Luke Jackson.

12.31.09 at 8:20 am

Heckler

Time to panic, or no problem seeing as they’ve had guys injured?

hahahaha. Panic? seriously?
let me ask you….even if a team wanted to panic after 3 straight (ROAD) losses and only 30 games into the season, what can they really do?….fire the coach? promote tom t? trade ray allen and his expiring contract?

fire danny ainge? sign kendrick perkins long term?

HAHAHAHAHA.

lets just say for instance, the answer to the question is YES, TIME TO PANIC…….what is a team really to do? what happens when you hit the panic button?!!?

12.31.09 at 8:23 am

Heckler

Dime,

in regards to the final comment, post some video (youtube or something) links on the greatest moves from jason white chocolate williams

12.31.09 at 8:43 am

Chicagorilla

Just in case you missed it in the other article

@1:22 sec point of video~ Does it count as being “tea bagged” if it was done by a female? Maybe it called be called, Beavered or something like that…check the vid

@DIME, How you guys haven’t done a covery story yet on her is beyond me. Don’t do the ESPN thing and wait for her to blow up. Make your own footprints in the sand.

12.31.09 at 8:45 am

deeds

Raptors win their 5th straight game last night in a surprisingly intense game vs the bobcats. felt like a playoff atmosphere

12.31.09 at 8:54 am

walljohn

doc rivers called out kendrick perkins for getting a tech for no apparent reason while boston was making a run during the suns game. KG should slap some sense into perk’s head.

If only cavs own the magic the same way they own the hawks, then we might see them heading to the Finals.

12.31.09 at 8:57 am

MBE18

At Knicks/Nets game last night, best sighting was during a timeout, Nate, Curry & Hill had their own huddle looking at the Net Dancers while the rest of the team was listening to the coaching staff. After the huddle broke, Al Harrington stared those chicks down until they went all the way into the tunnel.

12.31.09 at 8:59 am

freddie's roach

brook lopez playing solid despite the losses. Teams who passed up on him during draft day must be shaking their heads.

12.31.09 at 9:19 am

AdvancedMind

Wheres LakeShow at?
These Cavs just keep winning these meaningless games lol.

12.31.09 at 9:43 am

QQ

Nothing like a Cavs victory for the Lebron nut lickers, ahem, I mean, Dime editors.

Happy New Year, Dime Fam!

12.31.09 at 10:08 am

control

Man, the reffing in the NBA has been bad for the last few years, but this year it’s hitting new lows. It’s absolutely sickening, and completely takes away from the appeal of watching the game. I hope the NBA starts losing some fans due to this bullshit, so that the commish will wake up and fix some of the shit.

I hate on Manu quite a bit, but for a balding, flopping, injury prone role player, guy can drop some sick ass dimes.

12.31.09 at 10:24 am

kudos

LOL lebron doesn’t foul, doesn’t everybody know that by now?? Lebron can tackle josh smith in the air (see last years playoffs) and they’ll call it a clean block. THAT is sickenning.

12.31.09 at 10:56 am

Jacqueline Mitchell

I’m so happy that the New Jersey Nets won last night.( A win is a win even if it’s over the Knicks) good job fellas!!! And Happy New Year to everyone at Dime!!!

12.31.09 at 11:15 am

richard from cleveland

another smack tha was written well & more comments from cavs haters you guys need to give the hating up they beat one of the best teams in the nba right now two games in a row and lat night they came back from down 17 people its about to be 2010 be real with yourselves give credit when credit is due.

and then:
2 guards, 2 forwards 1 center as reserves
2 add’l players of any position

12.31.09 at 11:44 am

got beef?

1st team
Steve Nash
Kobe
Lebron
Duncan
Shaq

2nd team
Jason Kidd
A.I.
Paul Pierce
KG
Yao Ming

additional players D wade and Melo

12.31.09 at 11:49 am

chris

cavs stomp the lakers, take 2 from the hawks with a little help from the refs, i don’t think the cavs will have the problems they’ve had with the magic in the past unless shaq goes down with a big injury. i don’t like it, but this could be the chip year for the cavs, with sideshow bob, mo williams, and shaq, moon, parker, west, ilgauskas all doing their bits, this is a solid 8 man rotation. boston looks old.

12.31.09 at 11:51 am

eyes

BRON 50 & a biscuit wth gravy DAMM. Happy b day for that one.
Also in that game when horford fouled BRON in crunch time. Play was stopped & the clock ran for an extra few seconds. 2 accidents don’t happen like that. I smell a rat. Is the league really pro KOBE/LEBRON like that.

Also the knicks are much better wth N.Rob on the bench and Bender’s contributions. Lmao If u manage 2 lose to the nets ur seat should become warm.

12.31.09 at 12:04 pm

Dagomar

Bron had the third-highest point total on a birthday in league history. Maybe that should get some mention? Crazy three by V. Reminded me a bit of Duncan’s three a couple years back, though of course that was much bigger.

12.31.09 at 12:05 pm

Dagomar

Also, did you actually watch the shortened shot clock sequence? Is there ANY evidence of the Atlanta players either paying attention to the clock or rushing?

How do the refs miss that shot clock reset call w/ ATL/CLEV? Refs are watching the clock when guys are bringing up the ball to watch for the 8 seconded back court rule…shit is just fucked, you can see in the video the ref is looking right at the clock.

12.31.09 at 12:45 pm

GABRIEL BROGDEN

I saw the press conference after the Cavs game.

The reporter asked Lebron overall how did he feel about the tense game where attitudes flared and what have you.

Lebron said, “SHOUT OUTS TO THE REFS! Those no-calls were CLUTCH. And that shot clock thang, MY N****S! Good Lookin’ Out Baby.”

@CHICAGORILLA – is Brittney your sister or sumptin?

Dime’s already did articles on her. They posted her dunking over 2 years ago.

May be working on a cover…say they put her on the cover, will women rush the stands to buy it?!? I don’t get what’s your urgency. You’ve been sweating her ever since I saw you post on this site.

OK – she’s a very tall, very athletic woman who can ball. YAY!!

Young so there’s tons of potential, YAY x2!!!

She’ll probably dominate the WNBA. YAY x3!!!

And she’s lightskinned, YA–alright, nevermind – that has nuthin to do with nuthin.

Let her earn her stripes. Let her play her game. Basketball heads know about her pimpin. Geesh!
And if they don’t, they will…

12.31.09 at 1:11 pm

len-e

didn’t see cavs-hawks but i actually had to throw up during the first paragraph. fuck refs.

Home Cooked Meal… LOL. Good one. Fucking Cavs can’t even win without cheating. They must have realized LeBron the Loser can’t win even if it’s his damn birthday.

12.31.09 at 7:08 pm

LakeShow84

Thats on the Hawks for choking.. Refs are always going to go with LebronAKATheCavs.. Thats a KNOWN..

Cant let it get to the point where weak ass players can hit fluke ass shots and bury u.. but easier said than done.. lol 1st of his career.. how good did that one feel.. thats why theres 82 games in a bball season lol..

@ AdvancedMind..

Ok then lets say they get the best record in the NBA.. u still think they going to win it all?? Ehhhhhhhhh i dont think so lol like i said.. RAISE UR HAND NEXT TIME..

Lol crazy how the Cavs looked so good last year, everyone jumped in bed with em’, caught mono, jumped out, and now trying to jump back in once they look a little hot.. i wont even say we’re still only in DECEMBER lol.. mesmerized by a superstar who needs help from the officiating to be so dominant.. sad..